"to cause to develop out of a primitive state; especially : to bring to a technically advanced and rationally ordered stage of cultural development"
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Fast Food restaurants - Fast food was invented for "people on the go" I guess. To alleviate that waste of time called dinner or lunch break or whatever. That would give us more time to do the things we want to do, right? Look at what it's done to our society:
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Our youth is overweight at least partially from the junk that is currently served up
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If eaten every day, it can actually be toxic to your body. See the movie "Super Size Me" if you want some dramatized proof.
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Because people eat more on the go, they spend less quality time as a family unit. With already busy schedules, the dinner meal used to be the holy of holies where families could still act like families rather than seen as scheduling challenges.
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Video Games - again, kids might be getting some good hand eye out of it, but a lot of it is mere repetition. Plus, they are sitting on their bums not enjoying the natural world around them which leads to another leading cause of our youth's weight problems. No big deal? You don't mind that the habits little Billy incorporates today may take a decade of vital living from him later?
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Cell phones / beepers / Blackberries - You may draw the line here, that this is actually an advancement. But a cell phone is only really good when YOU want to use it. The rest of the time it's an electronic leash that your boss, spouse, etc... can yank at whenever they want. Yes, I'm Mr. Techno boy, but what many of you might not realize is that I don't take calls when I'm already in a meeting or speaking with someone (rude), and turn it off when I don't want to be reached. It's on because I either need to use it or I don't mind someone needing to reach me. But why does it make my list:
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They cause accidents/deaths on our roads. Either by taking one's eye off the road to dial (or fumble trying to find it), or in a conversation that makes one think spacially (like telling someone directions on where to get somewhere) - a person is not concentrating on driving. When you are traveling at 5 mph, not such a big deal. At 70 mph, you are travelling at a little over 102 feet a second. If you take you're mind off the road for say, 3 seconds, you've just traveled a football field without paying attention. Bad things can happen in the length of a football field.
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They cause irritations with those that one deals with when one put them on hold to take a call, or continuously checks their machine for new messages. This can give those in their physical presence a feeling that they are not paying attention. These frustrations have carried over to restaurants that have rules about the use of cell phones in their establishments.
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The majority of us are now working even longer hours than we used to. One's mind can never be completely at rest at the unconscious level when a phone can ring at any minute. This leads to increased stress, worsened health, and shorter life expectancy.
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My point is that perhaps we were better off, and perhaps more civilized when we were more of an agrarian-based society. People lived on the land in harmony with it, not destructively like we do now. Have you seen the vast chunks taken out of the rain forests we've carved out in the name of advanced civilization? While you perhaps worked a manually hard day back then, you had natural good health, time at the table with your friends and family, slept better, and stressed when the droughts and floods came. Have you ever worked hard all day (sun up to sun down) and then came in for a meal at the end of the day? Is that not some of the best food you've ever eaten? Did you not slumber more deeply and restfully than normal? I think it's because we've done all that we can for that day. And that's enough.
In today's society, we stress about so much more. Yes, we now have modern conveniences like washing machines for clothes and dishes, but are these really saving us time? Thoreau had ideas on the matter:
"The cost of a things is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run."
Basically, what he means is that to get that washing machine, we've got to go out and work. That takes time away from us actually living our lives as we bend to meet the needs of others so that they give us pay to get the washing machine. And as we become more and more commercially brainwashed and keep believing that each new invention actually saves us more and more time, we work even harder to get them. Thus, we actually end up with less personal time. It's insidious.
And now, before you call me a hypocrite, please understand I am just positing these thoughts. I, like the rest of us, have been caught up in this maelstrom that we call modern life. But I have cut down on the number of times I hit the fast food shops, sometimes going entire an entire month (which for me is something). I don't play video games, and I'm relatively conscientious about the use of my phone/ipod/PDA device. But I still work for someone else, I don't own a farm, and I have way too many toys.
